GERMANY and China on Friday signed agreements to strengthen coordination in banking, finance and capital markets, and pledged to further open market access and deepen cooperation to broaden economic ties. The agreements were reached after a two-day visit to Beijing by German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz for talks with Vice Premier Liu He. Both sides reaffirmed that “they will strengthen macroeconomic policy coordination and pragmatic cooperation in the fiscal and financial fields and expand strategic cooperation,” according to a joint statement after the talks. Trade between the two nations has softened amid uncertainty caused by the trade war, but both have shown a willingness to demonstrate that the world remains multilateral. They agreed to work to improve international economic governance, maintain the global multilateral system, fight trade protectionism and support a rule-based multilateral trading system through the World Trade Organization. “It is important that, contrary to recent trends that we can observe elsewhere, we are seeing progress in our cooperation,” Scholz told reporters. Liu also noted the importance of strengthening trade ties. “As the world economy slows, market volatility rises, creating greater risks,” he told reporters. Berlin has stressed its “close and advantageous” trade ties with China, the world’s second-largest economy compared to No. 4 Germany. “If you work closely together, you learn to appreciate similarities, but also to know differences,” Scholz said. German insurers can set up wholly-owned insurance holding firms in China, whose insurers and reinsurers are welcome conduct reinsurance business in Germany, it said. German banks can apply to become a primary dealer in the open market operations of the People’s Bank of China. The two countries will also support efforts to find areas of cooperation between China’s Belt and Road Initiative and the EU’s strategy for linking Europe and Asia, as well as European infrastructure planning. “I am very happy that we have succeeded in agreeing concrete, very concrete steps today,” Scholz said. (SD-Agencies) |